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To compete, libraries take page from retail

The Boston Globe looks at ways libraries are trying to adapt to the fast-changing tastes of a public accustomed to the gleam and glitz of a commercial world, libraries across the country are taking lessons from retailers, conducting surveys to determine customer preferences, opening drive-throughs and mall branches, designing catchy storefront displays, and training staffs in the delicate art of customer service.

Comments

Dewey Decimal System replaced with subject groupings similar to those in bookstores? Wow! Really? What a sacrifice! But DDC is sacred to librarians (and ONLY to librarians and no one else!). How can libraries live without it? "And libraries aren't bookstores", old-fashioned librarians would argue. But it is good that libaries are finally thinking outside the square, which isn't that hard to do.